Objective: To investigate the cytologic and pathologic features of endocervical lesions in cases of gastric adenocarcinoma metastatic to the uterine cervix.
Study design: From 1986 to 1994, four patients with gastric adenocarcinoma metastatic to the uterine cervix were treated at our department. The cervical cytologic samples were obtained by swabbing and were stained by the Papanicolaou method. Presence of tumor diathesis, number of atypical cells, cell arrangement, cytoplastic vacuoles, cellular and nuclear diameter, chromatin distribution and size of the nucleolus were investigated.
Results: The smear backgrounds were dirty (tumor diathesis) in two cases and clean in two. No significant difference in the number of atypical cells or in cell or nuclear diameter between primary and metastatic adenocarcinoma was shown. Cell arrangement was the different cytologic finding between primary and metastatic adenocarcinoma. Sheetlike or isolated arrangement was seen frequently in metastatic cervical adenocarcinoma.
Conclusion: Because different cytologic features have been found in past and the present series, cytologic diagnosis of metastatic cervical adenocarcinoma should be made carefully.